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.NET DEVELOPMENT
WITH ODAC 12C RELEASE 2


OVERVIEW

ORACLE ON .NET
Easy to use and learn
No charge
Supports Visual Studio 2013
and .NET Framework 4.5.1
100% managed ODP.NET
Schema Compare Tools in
Visual Studio
Supports Oracle database
12c features, such as
multitenant container
databases and Transaction
Guard
Access all database editions,
including Express, and
database versions 10.2 and
later.


Oracle Data Access Components (ODAC) offers four components
that simplify .NET development with the Oracle Database: Oracle
Data Provider for .NET, Oracle Developer Tools for Visual Studio,
Oracle Providers for ASP.NET, and .NET stored procedures. In
ODAC 12c Release 1 (12.1.0.1.2), Oracle includes fully-managed
ODP.NET, multitenant container database support in Oracle
Database 12c, and schema compare tools. ODAC can be
downloaded from Oracle Technology Center (OTN) for free and is
installable via graphical installer or xcopy for 32-bit or 64-bit
platforms.
Oracle Data Provider for .NET
Oracle Data Provider for .NET (ODP.NET) features optimized ADO.NET data
access to the Oracle database while providing full accessibility to the latest .NET
Framework version 4.5.1 and features, such as Entity Framework. ODP.NET
developers can take advantage of Oracles unique database functionality, including
Real Application Clusters, performance optimizations, XML DB, and advanced
security features. ODP.NET gives .NET programmers better performance,
flexibility, and more feature availability through features, such as self-tuning and
faster data retrieval; TimesTen In-Memory Database provider support, and
promotable transactions. ODP.NET developers can use the .NET Framework, but
not have to sacrifice powerful Oracle data management capabilities.
For more information, visit ODP.NET home page.
Oracle Developer Tools for Visual Studio
The Oracle Developer Tools for Visual Studio (ODT) is a tightly integrated "Add-
in" for Microsoft Visual Studio 2013, Visual Studio 2012, and Visual Studio 2010.
ODT is free and is available only via ODAC installations.
ODT makes developing .NET code for Oracle easy and fast, allowing developers to
stay in Visual Studio for the entire development lifecycle. ODT makes it easy to
browse and edit Oracle schema objects using integrated visual designers and can
automatically generate .NET code via a simple drag and drop. Developers can easily
modify table data, execute Oracle SQL statements, edit and debug PL/SQL code,
and generate SQL deployment scripts. The integrated context sensitive online help,
including the Oracle SQL and PL/SQL Users Guides, puts the Oracle documentation
at their fingertips.
ODT includes a SQL Tuning Advisor tool to help developers tune arbitrary SQL
statements and an Oracle Performance Analyzer, which analyzes a running .NET
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applications use of the Oracle database and provides detailed recommendations.
For more information, visit Oracle Developer Tools for Visual Studio home page.

Figure1. Browsing the Oracle schema (left) and editing and debugging PL/SQL
(right) are just two examples of Oracles tight Visual Studio integration.
Oracle Providers for ASP.NET
ASP.NET includes service providers that store application state in databases. By
storing state in a database, applications ensure web data is highly available and
equally accessible among all web servers.
Oracle Providers for ASP.NET support these service providers on 32-bit Windows
and Windows x64 for use with the Oracle database. For developers already familiar
with ASP.NET providers, the Oracle Providers for ASP.NET are easy to learn since
they share a common schema and application programming interface with other
existing ASP.NET providers.
Standard ASP.NET controls and services interact with the providers transparently
without any Oracle-specific coding required. Oracle offers the following ASP.NET
providers: Membership Provider, Role Provider, Site Map Provider, Session State
Provider, Profile Provider, Web Events Provider, Web Parts Personalization
Provider, and Cache Dependency Provider.
For more information, visit Oracle Providers for ASP.NET home page.
.NET Stored Procedures
The Oracle Database Extensions for .NET is a feature of Oracle Database on
Windows that makes it easy to develop, deploy, and run stored procedures and
functions written in a .NET managed language, such as C# or VB.NET. .NET stored
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procedures or functions are developed using Microsoft Visual Studio and deployed
using the tightly integrated ODT .NET Deployment Wizard. After deployment, a
.NET stored procedure can be called from .NET; from SQL or PL/SQL; from
another .NET, PL/SQL, or Java stored procedure; from a trigger; or from anywhere
else a stored procedure or function call is allowed.
For more information, visit the Oracle Database Extensions for .NET home page.
New Features
ODP.NET, Managed Driver
ODP.NET 12.1 introduces a new fully managed provider version, containing 100%
native .NET code. ODP.NET, Managed Driver includes nearly all the features of
ODP.NET, Unmanaged Driver and uses the same application programming
interface. This makes migrating existing ODP.NET applications to ODP.NET,
Managed Driver simple and easy.
With ODP.NET, Managed Driver, it is easier and faster to deploy ODP.NET. There
are fewer assemblies, as few as one. This makes deploying and patching
straightforward. The install size is smaller at less than 10 MB. Only one ODP.NET,
Managed Driver assembly is necessary whether you are using 32-bit or 64-bit .NET
Framework. Side-by-side deployment with other ODP.NET versions wont cause
conflicts since there are no unmanaged assemblies to account for. As a fully
managed provider, ODP.NET can better integrate with .NET Code Access Security
and ClickOnce deployment.
Multitenant Container Database Support
ODT and ODP.NET are seamlessly integrated with Oracle Database 12.1
multitenant container databases (CDBs) allowing developers to easily and quickly
create, clone, plug or unplug pluggable databases (PDBs) for use during
development and testing. These PDBs can be viewed and managed directly from
Server Explorer in Visual Studio. ODP.NET works out of the box with PDBs,
requiring no code changes to use them in .NET.
Schema Compare Tools
ODT introduces Schema Compare tools integrated within Visual Studio. These tools
allow developers to detect changes between individual Oracle schema objects or
entire schemas. When it comes time for deployment, these tools can be used to
generate a deployment ("diff") script to upgrade the target database to include the
new schema changes required.
Transaction Guard High Availability
Transaction Guard preserves transaction outcomes during planned and unplanned
outages so that every transaction outcome can be made known to the ODP.NET
application. This ensures applications use at-most-once execution.
Following an outage, ODP.NET returns the OracleException IsRecoverable property
indicating whether the transaction is recoverable. If not recoverable, the application
should roll-back, re-execute, and re-submit the current transaction. If recoverable,
the application can retrieve a logical transaction identifier to determine the last open
transaction's outcome status accurately and determine a plan of action to
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successfully commit the transaction.
Faster and More Robust Planned Database Outages High Availability
Planned outages are now possible to undertake without disrupting end users.
Databases can be brought offline more quickly by communicating its planned outage
status to ODP.NET applications. ODP.NET then removes idle pool connections and
disallows new connections to these databases. Planned outages can now occur more
quickly with fewer end user disruptions than before.
Global Data Services High Availability and Performance
With Global Data Services, ODP.NET applications can extend RACs automatic
workload management capabilities to their Oracle Data Guard and Oracle
GoldenGate instances. .NET applications can utilize all available global database
resources to improve performance through run-time connection load balancing and
availability through fast connection failover.
Oracle Notification Service High Availability and Performance
Oracle Notification Service (ONS) is a publish and subscribe service for
communicating Fast Application Notification (FAN) events. ODP.NET receives fast
connection failover and load balancing messages from the database server through
ONS. Previously, ODP.NET used Oracle Advanced Queuing (AQ) as its FAN
publish and subscribe service.
Because ONS is a memory-based service, it delivers messages faster than AQ. Using
ONS, Oracle consolidates the publish and subscribe service that all Oracle data
access drivers use.
Ease of Development
Oracle Database 12c and ODP.NET 12c support new ease of development features:
Auto Increment Identity Column
o Simplifies developing with data without a natural primary key.
Larger VARCHAR2, NVARCHAR2, and RAW Data Types
o Each data type now stores up to 32 KB in data size.
Boolean Data Type
o ODP.NET data type, OracleBoolean, maps to the new database
PL/SQL Boolean data type.
Enhanced Implicit REF Cursor Binding
o Retrieves stored procedure result sets implicitly without a
declared return type, except in the case of Entity Framework and
user-defined types.
Returning Row Counts from Array Binding
o When executing multiple parameter array-bound DML
statements, ODP.NET now returns the number of rows affected
for each array input value.

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Entity Framework and Language Integrated Query SQL APPLY
ODAC 11.2 Release 4 introduced Entity Framework and Language Integrated Query
(LINQ) integration with ODT and ODP.NET. LINQ is translated into native
database SQL before it can query the database. In some circumstances, LINQ uses
the non-standard APPLY keyword in SQL for retrieving lateral views. Oracle
Database and ODP.NET support the APPLY keyword in Oracle Database 12c to
more fully support LINQ.
Get Started Today
You can quickly start developing .NET applications with Oracle databases. Just
download ODAC 12c Release 2 from ODAC OTN download page.
Find getting started tutorials at the OTN .NET Developer Center.


















































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